Hold on tight -- a lot coming your way!

We're on DAY 5 of a major celebration!! My bloggin' bud Sharon Johnson over at No Time To Stamp celebrated a huge milestone recently and now the festivities are underway to celebrate! She hit one million on her blog counter!!!! So, she invited her Stamp Simply design team along with some wonderful friends along to play! There will be candy and challenges and plenty of gift giving ideas ripe for the holiday pickings for 12 whole days!
Today's challenge is two-fold! Cat over at Cat’s Creations is offering up some blog candy... if you take part in her fabulous sketch challenge! And, it's Friday -- which means Sharon has her regular Stamp Simply challenge! So, guess what? I decided to combine both!

CAT'S CHALLENGE: It's a sketch--- and here it is! SHARON'S CHALLENGE: Make a Christmas card -- with a twist! You cannot use a traditional Christmas stamp or Traditional DP! You may use any stamp --- just NOT a Christmas stamp! You can use a Christmas Sentiment though! And, you can use any colors you like -- even Christmas colors! As always, click HERE for the official details of ssnotime64!!

So..... here's what I came up with! I used THIS set called Mardi Gras just for the crowns! I gold embosssed three and then cut them out and popped up the center one with foam tape -- add some rhinestones and self stick gold nail heads and you have three decked out crowns -- fit for a king! The sentiment is from the City of David set also from Flourishes and says- "Wise Men Still Seek Him." The top is glittered red paper (I kind of cheated on this because this is a Christmas paper but I didn't think it was a gimme-- you could use this for Valentines day too easily!! Shhhh! Don't tell Sharon! LOL!) The bottom of my card is plain green that was embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. Mat it all up on some cut out images from my oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities, add some satin ribbon and some "bling" and you are done! Super duper easy!

Want to see what the Stamp Simply team did with this challenge?

Check out LeAnne Pugliese’s sample here.
Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.
Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.
Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here.
Check out AJ Otto’s sample here.
Check out Becky Oehlers‘ sample here.
Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

For more inspiration on Cat's challenge, check out these fabulous friends of Stamp Simply!

Darlene
Heather
Leslie
Susan

Remember! If you want to try your hand at a challenge, you can upload projects and link to your blog in a comment or you can upload to Splitcoast using the key word SSC08! If you do Sharon's challenge - be sure to add the ssnotime64 key word as well!

Barb Schram - Explore. Dream. Discover. - Barb has an offering of BLOG CANDY today!


And, if you do the sketch by Cathy Tidwell at Cat’s Creations - you can sign up for her blog candy!


And, if you want to stay up to speed on different daily challenges and blog candy giveaways, click HERE to travel to "Party Central!" That's where you'll find a daily rundown of all the Stamp Simply Celebrates happenings!

That's it for today folks! See ya back here tomorrow!